~Chapter Eleven~ ~My life may not be perfect, but it's so grand that I could call it as such~

The smell of cherry blossoms and other wondrous things caught ones scent.

Sunrays dared to pour in onto the sleeping form under the futon covers, as if it had created a blanket of sunlight just for her.

Kagome slowly stirred and opened her eyes to find herself laying on her soft pillow, under her cozy quilts, in her warm hut, in her village.

The sun that she could see through the window above her futon was brilliant, and she knew it was right in the middle of the early noon, perhaps around 11:00 a.m.

She couldn't remember much at first, and then it hit her as she suddenly realized that she felt no other form beside her.

She quickly sat up and tried to jump out of the quilts, but a sharp pain entered her right leg, sending her back down.

She looked to the leg and saw bandage wrapped around it tightly.

She remembered also that she had been injured by Kikyo then.

She didn't know where anyone was, or if Inu-Yasha was even still alive!!

His presence was no where around, she could sense it!!

She felt tears prick her eyes.

*H…have I lost…..lost…..lost him……forever?* She thought to herself as she buried her face into her knees and tried desperately to remember what had happened.

She remembered Kikyo as the child, and she remembered that child disappearing from her sight. She remembered saying something wise to the people that stood behind her, and as if a part of her memory was ripped in two, she could remember nothing else.

"Where….where are you? Where??" She whispered aloud.

"Mama?" Questioned a small voice suddenly.

Kagome's eyes shot open to find little Karu standing in the doorway of the hut.

"Mama? Why are you crying?" Karu questioned again.

Kagome didn't know what to say! Should she ask where Inu-Yasha was, or should she just pretend that everything was okay? She didn't know!!

Karu smiled happily after a moment.

"I'm so glad, mama!! I thought you'd never wake up!! You took a really long nap!" The little child laughed as she ran to her mother's side.

Kagome couldn't take it.

"W…where have you been all day?" She questioned, trying to not sound sad.

Karu smiled. "I went to pick you lots of flowers!" Karu stated.

Kagome looked to the child's arms. Nothing was there.

"But…where are the flowers? Did you pick at all?"

Karu nodded. "Yes! But there were so many that I couldn't carry them all myself!"

Just then, the hut door opened again.

"Man!! I swear, you gotta stop picking so many! What are there here? Like a million??" Said a voice more then perfect to Kagome's ears.

Karu giggled. "I'm sorry! I wanted mama to feel really a lot better!"

"Take out the really in that sentence and you'd have a perfect one! You gotta be quiet though. Isn't your mom still sleeping?" Said the voice again.

Because of all the flowers pilled up in his arms, he couldn't see that Kagome was wide awake.

Karu nodded. "Nope! Mama is await now! Finally! Are you not, mama?"

Kagome smiled in happiness and put her hand onto Karu's cheek.

"Yes. Why don't you go out for a minute and go see what MiMiru and Miku are doing, alright?" She whispered.

Karu smiled again. "Okay! See you later!"

And with that, Karu ran out the door before Inu-Yasha could say anymore.

He put down the piles of flowers and looked to Kagome for a moment.

It was silent for a long while as the two just stared, wondering what to say.

Finally, Inu-Yasha walked over to Kagome's side and knelt down.

The smile on his lips was so pure.

Kagome was about to say something when he suddenly wrapped his arms around her.

"I'm so happy. So happy that you're okay. I was terribly worried that you would never wake up or something. Maybe it was just a nightmare, but I was just so scared!" He stated into her hair.

Kagome grinning lovingly at his words.

"I thought Kikyo had taken you. I couldn't remember what had happened. I thought I'd never see you again."

Inu-Yasha felt her tremble a bit as her fingers griped his kimono tightly.

He pulled her back a ways and stared into her eyes so beautiful.

He ran his fingers across her face and almost got lost within her gaze.

He leaned close and laid his lips over hers softly.

It felt so tender and gentle.

After a moment he left her lips and then kissed her forehead delicately as well.

"I love you. How I love you." He whispered.

Kagome smiled and ran her fingers through his silver hair.

"I love you too. Forever. I thought I had lost you. I never want to believe that you might go away one day. Never. I realize that if you did, I would die myself, and nothing would be left of me except an emotionless body and an empty heart. If you ever left or was taken away from me…..I…..I can't even come to image the grief and horror I would have within me. Please…..don't ever go too far away. I can't bear it. I can't." She went on and began to sob a bit.

"I promise I will never leave. How can I anyway? Without you I'm nothing, and I mean that in a good way. You are the light that keeps me going, and the home that I always will know. A place in your heart will always be there for me. And so I will never leave you, because if I did, I don't know if I could last a mere hour." Inu-Yasha spoke so kindly.

Kagome felt so happy and sad at the same time.

"N…No one's ever said that before. Am I truly that important?" She questioned as more tears fell down her cheeks.

Inu-Yasha held her closer so that he could feel her heart on his chest.

"More then true. Please dry your tears now. We don't need that. You just woke up! You should be happy. We all should. Are you up to doing something tonight?"

Kagome pulled away gently and wiped the tears away with the beck of her hands.

"Um…sure. But…what about my leg and Karu?"

Inu-Yasha smiled. "I'll carry you. And Karu can come too."

Kagome nodded.

Karu stepped into the hut again as if she had been waiting the whole time.

She held her hands behind her back and had a sweet look on her face.

Kagome stared at her daughter.

"What? What did you find? I thought you were playing with MiMiru and Miku! Are they not home?"

Karu shook her head.

"They're home…..I found something for you though!"

Kagome looked to her hands.

Karu smiled down at a snapdragon in her hands.

Kagome smiled too. "Snapdragons are my favorite. They don't come out around this time though. Where did you get it from?"

Karu turned to Inu-Yasha.

"I don't know where I got it from. It was already picked when I found it! It was down by…..the…..um….the old well."

Kagome looked to Inu-Yasha.

He shrugged, not knowing what to say.

Kagome looked back at Karu and took the snapdragon gently from her hands.

"Thank you."

And then hugged the child and sent her out again.

Karu blushed and laughed sweetly before running out to play again.

Kagome looked back to the snapdragon and then set it down beside her pillow as she laid down.

"Did you find it, Inu-Yasha?" She asked dozily.

Inu-Yasha looked down to her and grinned.

"Kagome……I love you."

That was all it took for Kagome to stop wondering aimlessly about the flower and close her eyes with a smile.

She fell asleep again with Inu-Yasha close by, cleaning up the mess of other flowers Karu and him had brought in earlier, quietly humming something from long ago that Kagome had, at one point, sung to him one night under the stars and the moon's rainbow.

~That night~

Kagome sat upon Inu-Yasha's back as they walked through the dark forest at about 11:30 at night.

Karu held Inu-Yasha's hand tightly and stood so close to him that he had literally almost tripped over her about 5 times now!!

"Karu! What's wrong? Why do you keep keeping so close to my legs?" Inu-Yasha would question in a bit of annoyance.

Karu would continually answer that she was really scared, but Inu-Yasha had failed each time to believe that his daughter would be scared of the night!

Kagome had to explain to him after the 6th time Karu had almost tripped Inu-Yasha, that children, particularly little girls, were simply afraid of the dark! There was nothing wrong or unusual about that at all!

Inu-Yasha agreed, and said he was sorry to Karu, but it was still a bit of a bother to repeatedly watch where he was stepping incase Karu would trip him, or he would trip Karu!!

Now it was the 7th time.

"D…daddy!! Look over there!! A pair of yellow glowing eyes!!!!!! IT'S A DEMON!!!!!!!!" She screeched.

Inu-Yasha looked to where Karu was pointing to, and he almost wanted to laugh.

"That's no demon. Here."

He brought all three of them into the clearing that Karu saw the yellow lights in, and set Kagome down on a tree root gently.

She watched.

Karu stared as Inu-Yasha then took her small hand and led her over to the bushes where the lights were.

"NO!!!!!! IT'LL GET YOU, DADDY!!!!! RUN AWAY!!!!!!" Karu yelled.

Inu-Yasha stuck his hand into the bushes and pulled out a hand filled with small lights.

Karu stared in confusion.

"T….These aren't demons! But…what are they then?" She asked.

Inu-Yasha smiled.

"They're called fireflies. They're little bugs that come out in the summer nights to…well…to play I guess with it's friends, just like you like to go out and play in the day with your friends. Only fireflies like to play with children like you at night too. They like to play catch. You try and catch them, and when you do, you let them go, and try to catch more! They think it's the best, but only once in a while will children be up at this time of night to play with them. I figure that since they'll only be here for the summer, and you're out here tonight, you should play with them for a little. I know I did when I was your age, and I'm sure your mom did too! It's fun! Try it." He explained as he handed Karu a few of the fireflies.

She stared down at them in her hands, then smiled happily.

"Okay! Here we go then!" She called as she let them fly out of her hands, then began to chase them with much speed.

"Just don't go too far from here, okay Karu!" Inu-Yasha warned to her as she vanished into the trees in the other clearing.

Inu-Yasha sat down beside Kagome and smiled to her.

She was so beautiful he couldn't help it.

Her hair waved over her shoulders, and her eyes lit up with the firefly glow in the background.

He smiled even larger.

"Kagome….I…..don't know what to say!" He confessed.

Kagome giggled and leaned closer to him.

"Then don't say a word. Just be by me…..in this place…..at this time….and hear me breathe…..and feel me hold your hand…..and just smile. We are together. That's a simple statement that will forever mean much to me. We are together. Smiling. Here. Our lives may not be perfect…but….it's so grand one could call it as such."

Inu-Yasha did as Kagome said.

He listened to her breathe as he said nothing more, smiling as he did so. How thankful he was to have this thing. This thing he thought he'd never have. A home. A love. A child. A smile. A breath. A hand to hold. Two arms to fall into. A family.

He closed his eyes and listened as Kagome fell asleep again, huddled up close to him, her lips still curved into a smile.

Soon, he felt Karu rush over and climb up to his lap.

She fell asleep there after a moment or two.

It didn't take much for her to find dreams, and to add onto it, it was already midnight.

He finally opened his eyes again.

Fireflies and a few dragonflies hung around in the trees and in the clearing.

He looked down to see Kagome's face, still in that smile, peaceful and warm, now that she knew she would never be left alone by him, knowing that he loved her, and that was all she needed to live on.

He saw Karu's face as well. Sweet and adorable she was, sleeping soundly upon his chest, most likely dreaming a wonderful dream, so innocent and cute, simply happy to find out that the lights were not demons, but in truth, new friends, and she would wake the next morning, ready to play and run, and be free as any child should be, and forever knowing that she would be loved by her daddy and mama, her aunty Sango and uncle Miroku, her two best friends MiMiru and Miku, and everyone else in her family, perhaps even the far away Sesshoumaru and Rin, which she had heard stories about all her life.

Inu-Yasha placed both arms around his two most treasured beings, and grinning softly, looking forward to a new day, soon to come.

He knew that from that point on, he would never had to worry again, only of small things, such as how Kagome would think of him if he asked her one day if maybe they could have another child, or go on an adventure like old times, or maybe wonder if Karu would ever become more like him, or like Kagome. Such things so small that nothing big would ever happen again.

He hugged both of them and smiled more.

He then looked up to the night sky and his eyes widened.

The moon's rainbow was across the dark blue heavens as the full moon sat far off in the middle of the sky, gleaming.

*Had everything started when I was with Kagome under the moon's rainbow that night 5 years ago?* He wondered.

Then he remembered all those other memories that should never be forgotten.

Of the shards, and Miroku, and Shippo, and Sango, and Kirara.

Of things of battles for hearts and treasure, and smiles and frowns, tears and laughter. Holding on till the end and then beyond.

*No. Everything hadn't started that night 5 years ago under this very rainbow that's invisible to many but Kagome and I. It didn't start those many hundreds of years ago either, when Kagome and I were only spirits, searching for one another. It started sometime 8 years ago……back when everything was missing, and yet……..everything was already put together.* He thought to himself.

He closed his eyes to sleep.

*It started that day……….when a 15 year old girl got pulled into a dried well on her family's shrine, and came out in a world 500 years before her own time, in a place called feudal Japan, where she found a sacred tree, where a half-demon was under a curse. A curse that was meant to be placed, so that he could find the girl's soul again. And when she broke that curse, and set the half-demon free, that, now that……..was where it all began.*

The End.

~WOOOHOOOO!!!!!!!! I'M DONE!! YEPPIE YEP! I hope you enjoyed my story!!! Please review anytime! ^_^ Thank you fellow readers!!!!!!! This is chibi Kagome….saying… "SAYONARA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" hehehehehehehehehe!!!~

~chibikagome1@yahoo.com~